4860 vertical feet today. Just a couple of hours to get my legs back after last week's crash. Paula went cross-country skiing at the nordic centre again today. The canyon was a total zoo with people double-parked all up and down the canyon. We couldn't figure out why and eventually I managed to collar a guy. He said they'd had an avalanche in little cottonwood canyon and that it was closed, so the two resorts up big cottonwood were taking double the normal load. The skiing was excellent - what you'd expect considering the amount of snow we had here yesterday. More to come tomorrow, then tuesday, then thursday. I'm spending the sunday in tomorrow for the first time in ages - got the skiing out of my system today.

Holy shit! The DTRA has scrapped Divine Strake! We won! I seriously thought public pressure wasn't going to have any effect but they confirmed today the test has been scrapped. Not postponed - scrapped completely. Wow.

Coffins full of US bodies coming back from Iraq and pictures of maimed marines marrying their sweethearts are all well and good, but this picture that I saw today really brought the whole thing home to me. Cue totally unsubtle anti-war picture:

This came to mind: ♫Who's gonna drive you home, tonight?♫ (Cars: Drive)

Wow. A work colleague of mine has been banging on about the KTM 990 Superduke for ages. The first one arrived in the state yesterday and he's gone and bought it. Sweet. It'll be here for us to drool over tomorrow.

Yesterday's storm brought snow to the valley floor again, but more importantly it dumped in the mountains. The base is now around 70 inches with over 200 inches for the total so far. That's a bit more like it. We're expecting two more storms to roll in towards the weekend so skiing ought to be good again come saturday or sunday.

On CNN's Late Edition show, Whitehouse press spokespuppet Tony Snow was interviewed about the disaster in Iraq.

First off, he said that the Whitehouse disagreed with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's claim that the Iraq war was "the worst foreign policy mistake" in U.S. history. He said it was important to remove Saddam Hussein from power and noted that a majority of senators voted in 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq. He then failed to mention that this happened because Bush lied to everyone and falsified intelligence to support his desperate desire for warmongering. Tony Snow then went on to say this, and frankly, it's priceless:

"The strategy has barely had a chance to begin working."

Wow!4 years, 3140 dead US military, 256 dead coalition military, 32,544 wounded and maimed US military and over 22,000 dead Iraqi civilians (officially - over 600,000 unofficially) and Tony Snow thinks the strategy has barely had a chance to begin working? I'm stunned at how this guy can make these sorts of claims with a straight face. Most of the rest of use would crack up and admit we were only joking but I think he really believes that comment.

He carried on : "The war is tough, but the solution is not to get out. It is to provide the kinds of resources and reinforcements our forces need to get the job done".Well I'm not sure about Tony Snow, but as I understand it, we're not at war. This is a military action because Bush never declared war. Still, in a Whitehouse where the Bush-induced genocide is being regarded as simply a "comma" in the history books, I supposed it's not unexpected to find people like Tony Snow being flippant with their remarks.

He carried on : "The president understands the importance of debate about the war on Capitol Hill and understands lawmakers' anxiety about the war.". Bullshit. Bush couldn't give a flying fuck about anyone else, least of all the lawmakers.

More: "What I would say to members of Congress is: Calm down and take a look at what's going on, and ask yourself a simple question: If you support the troops, would you deny them the reinforcements they think are necessary to complete the mission?". Dude. Listen. To keep implying that not sending money and troops is somehow not supporting them is simply another Whitehouse lie. The only way to support the troops is to pull them out. Sending more bullet magnets into the line of fire isn't going to work. It didn't work the last three times and it sure as hell isn't going to work this time.

10,035 vertical feet and two firsts today. First time up the Summit lift - the equivalent of Peak 3. And first major, MAJOR yard sale. Coming off a steep section on Dynamite, I managed all the difficult stuff then fumbled a left turn on an off-camber section of snow. Kudos to the guy I flew in front of, because he missed me. Knocked the wind out of me though. I lay there on my back for about a minute getting my breath back before getting up. Collected my skis, gloves and poles and carried on to the bottom of the Summit lift again. Being stubborn, I decided to try again so up we went for the second time. This time I caught an edge and twisted my knee so I ended up with jelly legs. It was all I could do to get back to the bottom of the slope. I'll be back next weekend. That Summit isn't going to beat me that easily.